As the battles of the 1970s intensified Norman McLean became an electrician working in factories and on building sites. Norman spoke to us about his experiences of being a revolutionary activist in an exciting period of working class history. Part 1 can be found here

Part 2 Getting Organised

What did it mean to be an IS trade union militant?

I was a shop steward and I had a duplicator at home so I was always running off bulletins – What’s the dispute about? What’s the latest story? In my own place and across the union in defence of some branch that the leadership were closing down.

The bulletin would be A4, badly printed. I did them very quickly at the drop of a hat. I can touch type. When I was at Mullards there were two shifts. When I needed everyone to know the truth about something in a…

May ’68 and the struggles of the late sixties radicalised tens of thousands of students, some became revolutionaries and joined revolutionary groups. Norman MacLean became a member of the International Socialists (IS) and started working in factories, organising and agitating with his fellow workers during the heightened period of class struggle known as the ‘upturn’. Part 2 will be published tomorrow.

Part 1 From University to Industry

What was your background?

I come from Stornoway, Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides. My father was petit bourgeois, owning two butchers’ shops that I worked in as a child. My mother’s family were gamekeepers and domestic servants on a big estate and I grew up with a resentment of the landlords. I used to work gathering the sheep for them every summer. My mother’s family were very working class, but deferential Tories. My father was a businessman, a liberal Tory.